The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have given the U.S. Army's Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets, a central role in American military action like never before. Several hundred U.S. Special Forces operators helped a motley band of Afghan rebels orchestrate a stunning rout when they overthrew the Taliban after 9/11. In Iraq, as journalist Linda Robinson explains in Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces, Special Forces units were the main U.S. elements on the ground in the northern and western regions of the country, where they defeated government forces that outnumbered them many times over. Robinson tells the story of the Special Forces through the eyes of a few of its more colorful personalities, men with call signs like Rawhide and Killer. She follows them around the world from Panama and El Salvador to Somalia, Kosovo, and, finally, Afghanistan and Iraq. Surprisingly, however, she devotes only a few pages to the Green Beret-led victory in Afghanistan, even though it was arguably their greatest achievement since they were created after World War II.

Critics and supporters of the recent American interventions alike should find the technical proficiency of the Special Forces interesting and impressive. Each 12-soldier team may marshal more than a century of combined experience in weapons, foreign languages, intelligence, communications, air control, and trauma medicine. For a book about such an action-packed subject, though, Robinson's effort is somewhat dry, and she devotes more time to mundane background biographies than to the dramatic battle scenes in which the Special Forces invariably find themselves. In addition, Robinson's "secret history" is an authorized and sympathetic one, and readers may be left wondering what she may have left out of her accounts in order to maintain her access. --Alex Roslin

From Publishers Weekly
This impressively readable account chronicles the role of the U.S. Army's Special Forces (aka the Green Berets, a label they do not care for) over the past 15 years. Special Forces operations included Somalia, the first Gulf War, the Balkans, Afghanistan and once again the Gulf. The latter two operations are are allotted half the book, with the ongoing presence in Iraq being the forces' largest operation since Vietnam. Based on interviews with 30-odd operators, the book is a compelling group portrait of some of America's most dedicated warriors. A journalist specializing in national security subjects, particularly unconventional warfare, Robinson mostly shows the men performing their original role: organizing and training local friendlies to liberate their countries or at least achieve American goals. Recent achievements along those lines include organizing Shiite militias in Iraq and leading Kurdish forces to tie down Saddam's army in the north. Robinson also presents in some detail the new role of the Special Forces, one of major strategic significance: calling in aerial fire support on enemy targets in support of either U.S. or indigenous forces in distant lands. Still mostly secret, she finds even after careful investigation, is their work with the FBI after 9/11. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Fewer than 10,000 strong, the Army Special Forces -- the Green Berets -- make up for their scarcity by subjecting their recruits to rigorous training, both physical and intellectual. (For one thing, they are expected to learn foreign languages.) The Special Forces were founded in 1952, U.S. News & World Report writer Linda Robinson explains, as successors to the paramilitary units of the Office of Strategic Services, whose mission had been to parachute behind enemy lines and fight alongside resistance groups in World War II. The current era of terrorism demands precisely what the Green Berets have to offer -- smarts, flexibility and expertise in unconventional warfare -- and Robinson's Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces (PublicAffairs, $26.95) showcases their activities since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Fresh from contributing to the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Special Forces were asked to take leading roles in assaults on Iraq in the spring of 2003. Forces operating in central Iraq, Robinson reports, "developed a method to deal with Iraq's ubiquitous walled compounds. They crouched on the roofs of their Humvees and, when they reached their destinations, they simply jumped off over the wall and into the compound. It saved them the time and trouble of breaking down the door." A matter as simple as grooming can assume strategic weight. Immersed in Kurdish Iraq, one Special Forces group "adopted the native dress of the shamag scarves and the ballooning brown pants that were the uniform of the Kurdish pesh merga fighters. The soldiers grew mustaches. . . ; the pesh merga . . . are less inclined to respect the advice or follow the orders of clean-shaven men." Another commander, in a different sector, took a different tack: "He kept [his men] in army uniforms and regulation hair cuts. He . . . wanted to make them seem as big, American, and intimidating as possible to the Iraqi divisions."Those Gutsy Green Berets Copyright 2004, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved.

National Guard
"...well-rounded...a combination of battlefield action and personal insight rarely seen in accounts of America's elite warriors."

James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys
"Linda Robinson has gone beyond the headlines and the hype to bring us into [the Special Forces'] brotherhood."

Robert Baer, author of See No Evil and Sleeping with the Devil
"This fascinating, dramatic account of the Special Forces... shows us the face of war in the 21st century. "

Washington Monthly, November issue
"[MOC] offers a rare glimpse inside the secretive world of the Green Berets and their recent adventures."

New York Times, November 14, 2004
"Robinson's book gives us an intimate, valuable history of the Special Forces' last two decades..."

Brian Duffy from US News
"An exclusive look inside the world of U.S. Special Forces."

Huntington WV News, October 13, 2004
"Robinson's book is a first-rate account ... ranks among the best military histories I've encountered."

Publisher's Weekly, September 27, 2004
"impressively readable... the book is a compelling group portrait of some of America's most dedicated warriors."

James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys
"Linda Robinson has gone beyond the headlines and the hype to bring us into [the Special Forces] brotherhood."

Army Magazine
"Robinson present[s] the reader with the ground truth of U.S. Army Special Forces operations. ...the... attention to detail is exceptional"

Book Description
A journalist with unique access tells the gripping, never-before-told, inside story of America's elite troops in action -- from the nadir of their reputation after Vietnam to their preeminence today on the frontlines against terrorism around the world. Special Forces soldiers are daring, seasoned troops from America's heartland, selected in a tough competition and trained in an extraordinary range of skills. They know foreign languages and cultures and unconventional warfare better than any U.S. fighters, and while they prefer to stay out of the limelight, veteran war correspondent Linda Robinson gained access to their closed world. She traveled with them on the frontlines, interviewed them at length on their home bases, and studied their doctrine, methods and history. In Masters of Chaos she tells their story through a select group of senior sergeants and field-grade officers, a band of unforgettable characters like Rawhide, Killer, Michael T, and Alan -- led by the unflappable Lt. Col. Chris Conner and Col. Charlie Cleveland, a brilliant but self-effacing West Pointer who led the largest unconventional war campaign since Vietnam in northern Iraq. Robinson follows the Special Forces from their first post-Vietnam combat in Panama, El Salvador, Desert Storm, Somalia, and the Balkans to their recent trials and triumphs in Afghanistan and Iraq. She witnessed their secret sleuthing and unsung successes in southern Iraq, and recounts here for the first time the dramatic firefights of the western desert. Her blow-by-blow story of the attack on Ansar al-Islam's international terrorist training camp has never been told before. The most comprehensive account ever of the modern-day Special Forces in action, Masters of Chaos is filled with riveting, intimate detail in the words of a close-knit band of soldiers who have done it all. AUTHOR BIO: Linda Robinson is a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report. She was a Nieman fellow at Harvard University in 2000-2001 and in 1999 she received the Maria Moors Cabot prize form Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. She has covered numerous wars, guerrilla conflicts and special forces operations, and currently lives in Washington, D.C.

About the Author
Linda Robinson, a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. A former senior editor at Foreign Affairs, Robinson lives in Washington, D.C.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"A journalist with unique access tells the never-before-told, inside story of America's elite troops in action - from the nadir of their reputation after Vietnam to their preeminence today on the frontlines against terrorism around the world." "Special Forces soldiers are daring, seasoned warriors from America's heartland, selected in a tough competition and trained in an extraordinary range of skills. In Masters of Chaos Linda Robinson tells their story through a select group of senior sergeants and field-grade officers, a band of unforgettable characters like Rawhide, Killer, Michael T, and Alan - led by the unflappable Lt. Col. Chris Conner and Col. Charlie Cleveland, a brilliant but self-effacing West Pointer who waged the largest unconventional war campaign since Vietnam in northern Iraq." "Robinson follows the Special Forces from their first post-Vietnam combat in Panama, El Salvador, Desert Storm, Somalia, and the Balkans, to their recent trials and triumphs in Afghanistan and Iraq. She witnessed their secret sleuthing and unsung successes in southern Iraq, and recounts here for the first time the dramatic firefights of the western desert. Her blow-by-blow story of the attack on Ansar al-Islam's international terrorist training camp has never been told before." The most comprehensive account ever of the modern-day Special Forces in action, Masters of Chaos is filled with intimate detail in the words of a close-knit band of soldiers who have done it all.

FROM THE CRITICS

James Bradley - author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys

Linda Robinson has gone beyond the headlines and the hype to bring us into [the Special Forces'] brotherhood.

Robert Baer - author of See No Evil and Sleeping with the Devil

This fascinating, dramatic account of the Special Forces... shows us the face of war in the 21st century.

Publishers Weekly